Reports: Tibetan Mother of 4 Sets Herself on Fire

Posted March 4th, 2012 at 4:40 pm (UTC-5)
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Tibetan sources say a mother of four has died after setting herself on fire to protest government policies in Tibetan areas of China.

The London-based group Free Tibet says the woman, identified as Rinchen, set herself ablaze outside the Kirti monastery in Ngaba town in China's southwestern Sichuan province. The 32-year-old widow died at the scene. Sources inside Tibet confirmed the incident for VOA , but there was no confirmation from Chinese authorities.

More than 20 Tibetans have self-immolated since March of last year to protest the Chinese government's repression of Tibet's culture and religion.

Officials in Beijing have condemned self-immolations as a form of terrorism. They have accused Tibet's exiled leader the Dalai Lama of supporting them.

The Dalai Lama says he is only fighting for Tibet's cultural autonomy. He has not supported the self-immolations, but he has not condemned them either.